Provides instructional developers' (ID) insights and observations based on the experiences of a training and development organization, Sprint's University of Excellence (UE), as it evolved from a small group of 20-25 individuals in 1990 to a large business unit comprising almost 400 individuals in 1999. Discussion includes course development…

Examines the relationship between school organizational climate and the school's preparedness to undertake restructuring and improvement. Findings indicated the existence of an important relationship between organizational climate and the school's capacity to implement and sustain authentic site-based management. Where the climate is negative,…

Discusses reading comprehension difficulty among older students. Only 40% of adolescents can read well enough to comfortably manage standard high school texts--untangling specialized text to construct meaning does not come automatically. Offers tips for reinforcing reading strategies that center on teaching children to interact with text. These…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the processes of care, organizational attributes, cost of care, staffing level, and staff mix in a sample of Missouri homes with good, average, and poor resident outcomes. Design and Methods: A three-group exploratory study design was used, with 92 nursing homes randomly selected from all nursing…

In recent years, assessment data have assumed a more central role education policy and practice. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states to implement standardized assessment-based systems to evaluate their schools. The NCLB approach rests on the assumption that assessment data can provide credible information to gauge how effectively schools…

Four identity dimensions (Commitment Making, Identification with Commitment, Exploration in Depth, and Exploration in Breadth) were used to derive identity statuses by means of cluster analysis in a sample of late adolescents. This strategy resulted in both a qualitative refinement and a quantitative extension of Marcia's (1966) model. Five…

Over the years, the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) has experimented with various continuous improvement initiatives. Some projects fizzled owing to the universal killers of grand ideas such as inertia, inconsistent implementation, lack of buy-in, "flavor of the month" attitude, and the all-time favorite: if they ignore this idea it…

This case study on the impact of a state takeover in one of South Carolina's most rural school districts ("referred to as the County School District") was completed using a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to examine the impact on academic achievement, school performance, and school leadership as a result of the South Carolina…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

Three teacher researchers conducted this action research project to increase their 54 high school students' achievements in mathematics. The teacher researchers had noticed a trend of low scores on teacher-made chapter tests and non-completion of daily homework. Standardized tests showed that most students scored below average on the mathematics…

"Math is language, too," Phyllis and David Whitin (2000) remind everyone in their informative book about reading and writing in the mathematics classroom. This means that students in elementary school math classes are learning two distinct, yet related languages--one of numbers, the other of words. These languages of numbers and words…

The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory is one model for sharing literacy leadership responsibility at the secondary school level. With the help of computer technology (PCs), it brings teachers and literacy leaders from multiple departments and multiple schools together to learn from and with one another in overlapping professional learning…

As a follow-up to a 2007 Edvantia, Inc. report entitled "A Legacy of Leadership and Lessons Learned: Results of the Rural Systemic Initiatives for Improving Mathematics and Science Education," (ED531892) Edvantia, Inc. sought and received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold a forum in the nation's capital that…

Achieving the Dream colleges engage in a process of institutional improvement to increase student success. A central component of this process is engaging internal and external stakeholders to help develop and implement interventions or changes in programs and services that improve student success. To determine whether these interventions do…

This paper evaluates the labour market effects of the introduction of the polytechnic education system in Finland. The polytechnic reform gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics. Since the timing of the reform differed across schools, we can compare the performance of polytechnic graduates to the performance of…